


The Playlist Of Yosuke Hanamura, And The Inevitable Relationship That Follows

by souyos



Category: Persona 4, Persona Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Fluff and Angst, Genderfluid Character, Genderfluid Souji Seta, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Misgendering, Most if not all characters are gay and trans, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Some weird mashup between a songfic/vent fic/canon rerwrite/and canon divergence fic, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt, Trans Character, Trans Male Yosuke Hanamura, Transphobia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:35:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27041332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/souyos/pseuds/souyos
Summary: Yosuke Hanamura, living and suffering in Inaba, has been through the wringer to put it lightly- And now, with a new transfer student that does everything short but literally turn his world upside down, they have some sort of serial murderer to stop. Along with a lot of self reflecting as well.A canon rewrite/canon divergence fic featuring Yosuke's music taste and a handpicked playlist of songs that each chapter will be based off of. More info to be in the notes.
Relationships: Hanamura Yosuke/Narukami Yu, Hanamura Yosuke/Persona 4 Protagonist, Hanamura Yosuke/Seta Souji
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	The Playlist Of Yosuke Hanamura, And The Inevitable Relationship That Follows

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is my first multichaptered fic, and I hope I do it justice. I spend a good week or two coming up with the songs I would use, using songs I headcannon Yosuke to like, and the ones his wiki mentions he listens to. Plenty of headcannons to be featured here, especially the gender ones. I also use Souji instead of Yu here. Please do alert me of any grammar or spelling issues, I beta read this myself and after writing just over 9k words in pretty much one sitting, I did not have the patience to read it all properly, and I didn't have a beta reader. I hope you enjoy.

What would be eventually known as a serial murder case, one that Yosuke himself would be involved with, with people he didn't think he would ever become friends, or close friends with, has started. 

But he didn't know that yet, why would he? He was stood in the electronic department of Junes, mulling over his tasks for the day. The display TV's on a news station, well, the only news station Inaba had. Like some stupid small town would need multiple stations, nothing happened here anyways, he thought to himself as he mindlessly spewed some annoying drivel to a customer, probably something about the electronics sale. It's not like he really paid attention to what he was doing anymore, why would he? 

The news station was going over Mayumi Yamano's murder. Again. Yosuke somewhat paid attention to it, murder in a small town is interesting enough for him. He didn't have many standards anyway. Soon his thoughts turned cherry-sour though, as he realized its two hours into his and Konishi's shared shift, and said girl hasn't shown up yet. 

_So Saki-senpai turns me down for a third time, and then she doesn't even bother to show up to work. Leaving me with picking up her shifts and shit, God, I know I'm annoying but was this really necessary? Ugh._ With that bitter note in his mind, he roughly swept around the area. Probably creating more of a mess than there was before anyway. But who cares, he thought. _Maybe some brat will slip on some bit of dust, somehow, and sue me. Jail would be more interesting than this, probably. Not like I'm going anywhere in school being the useless pathetic 'Hana-chan!'. I'll be slaving away at Junes my whole life at this point._ He shivers at the thought of that. 'Why not quit now? Leave and save everyone the effort of having to put up with your sorry ass everyday' Said something from the back of his mind. He ignored it. _Haha, hearing voices now. I'm probably going crazy! Of course I am. Who wouldn't, living here, more specifically: being me._ He slams the broom down, not like he was sweeping with it much at this point anyway, which makes a customer jump and another look at him with a glare. He glances back, then moves on to the grocery department. _What Saki-senpai should be doing right now, not me._ He sighs as he decides to take his break then. He steps into the break one, and leans on the water-cooler while he drinks a glass. Yosuke let himself daydream, even if he knew damn well that he would just be thinking about Konishi. _I can only get what I want in my dreams, anyway. May as well have fun. Ha._ He ends that bitter thought, swallowing it down like shitty, lowest shelf wine. 

_All the things we could be, if only she took the time to talk to me._ He thinks. Knowing where this goes, seeing he's only been thinking about the what-ifs of what he and Konishi could be, granted he wasn't pathetic Junes boy Hanamura, and just generally annoying and clingy and whatever else insult that's been hurled at him or said behind his back, they were all true anyway. Probably. _Probably? That's wishful thinking. It'd take a freakin' saint to be able to find me tolerable at the least._ Definitely true, then, he decided. He got another cup of water, downing it in two large gulps, choking a bit. He doesn't care, and neither do the other employees in the break room, who just glare at him and tell him to keep quiet. 

He slips into thought again, may as well spend a few minutes with wishful thinking. That's the only positivity he'd get from Inaba. Just stupid, worthless, thoughts and wishes that wont come true. _God, this is pathetic,_ Was his final thought as his brain took over, letting him imagine himself on a date with Saki. _Ah, the park this time._

The two were sat under a tree, having a picnic. Joking about something, his brain was too tired to come up with the material. But, within a matter of seconds they had gotten up, chasing each other around the tree, laughing. After a few rounds around the tree, they fell to the ground laughing, looking at each other, faces red, from running and laughing or blushing? Soon enough, they were leaning into each other, about to-

"-amura! Are you even listening to me?" Yosuke's dad dragged him out of his daydream, _And at the good part too..._ And the jolt of fear he felt being yelled at was as if he was dunked into an ice bath. He was being yelled at for going over his break time, he quickly mumbled an apology then went back out onto the floor. He finished his shift, bitterness steeping over like burnt coffee beans in a shitty coffee maker. 

He spent that night crying himself to sleep, a regular occurrence, really. Ever since Konishi decided she had no intention of staying friends with him, and let him down rather coldly. 

_"I thought you'd know better than anyone, Hana-chan, of the kindness façade us retail workers put on. The same one I put on for customers, I put on for my co-workers. I was never actually interested in you. I'm sorry that's what it came too, though. I wasn't intentionally stringing you along. Find a new 'red string' to be hung up on."_

When he woke up in the morning, it was as if he didn't sleep. What kind of rest is one like that, plagued by flashbacks of your own stupidity and mistakes, and some crying between them all just for good measure. And that probably explains why he managed to crash his bike riding it to school that morning. And if that wasn't bad enough, he notices some new kid walking behind him, who had paused to look at him then be on their way. _Okay, cool, someone I've literally never seen in this shithole, and they already seem to have some sort of distaste for me._ He sighed, before getting back on his bike and making the remainder of the way to school trying to ignore the shooting pains going up and down his leg like some sort of relay race. 

Once in the school, instead of the usual bell ringing to signal classes starting for the day, the principal came onto the PA system to announce an emergency required assembly in the gym. Yosuke sighed as he grabbed his shoes and made his way down to the gym. 'Something bad is totally gonna happen at that assembly.' The voice from earlier made an unwanted appearance, that thought echoing in Yosuke's brain. He didn't want to think about it, but he was anxious as to why Konishi hadn't been at work yesterday. There were theories that Mayumi's murder would just be the first in a serial murder case, but surely that isn't true right? It's just stupid cops trying to make things more interesting for themselves, right? Probably want to investigate something more than a kid stealing a candy bar from a convenience store. _But... If she was sick she would've called in, she wouldn't just... disappear._ Yosuke shook the thoughts from his brain, probably knocking something loose in the process, and hurried to his place in the gym, awaiting the principal. 

"I... Regret to say I have a terrible announcement for all of you." The principal started, with few audible gasps from the students. Yosuke's anxiety quickly boiled over, like a forgotten for just one minute too long pot of water, and his ears began ringing when the principal announced that Konishi, no, _Saki-senpai,_ was dead. He quickly ran out of the gym, ignoring the protest some teacher gave him, and he found refuge in a bathroom. He quickly locked himself in the stall and began to hyperventilate further.

 _Saki-senpai's dead, no, she can't be, but the principal- but, she was alive the other day- There's- there's no way, she can't be dead, she was only good thing about this stupid backwater town-_ _The- the only thing- the only person keeping me-_

"Hello?" A tentative voice asked, cutting through Yosuke's thoughts. _I don't recognize this voice? Oh.. Maybe that's the new transfer._

 _"_ Hahaha, hey there transfer! Coming to get your jab in on the stupid Junes boy early, huh?" he punctuated his sentence with a dry laugh that turned into a cough and opening the stall door. The transfer students' expression was one barely past neutral, but held some sort of confusion to it. "No, I had saw you run off and I was curious as to why. Were you close to this Konishi-san?" They spoke slowly and carefully, as if trying to corner an anxious kitten. 

"Ha...h. I wish. I'll be fine, you can go back to the assembly. Shouldn't get yourself in trouble on the first day, especially not because of someone like me." He pushed himself past the new student and walked, albeit quite slumped, to class. As soon as he was in his seat, though, he saw Morooka walk in with that same new student, yelling at the class to shut their traps. He quickly introduced the student, who's name was Seta Souji, and assigned them to the empty desk next to his. "You can take the seat next to Hanamura, that's what you get for transferin' in the middle of the school year." Morooka said, pointing to Yosuke in which he responded by slightly raising his hand for Seta to know who he was, despite just seeing him making a fool of himself in the bathroom. 

Seta-san was quick to sit themself down in their seat, and gave a quick smile to Yosuke, but returned to facing forward with a neutral expression quickly enough Yosuke almost didn't catch the smile. _Weird._ He thought, but didn't have much time to further entertain that thought as Morooka got started on one of his tangents that essentially could be summed up to how much he hated teens, and then he got into an actual lesson.

Once school was over, Yosuke noticed Seta-san talking to Chie and Yukiko. He quickly butted his way into the conversation, "Huh? What's this about a midnight channel?"

"Okay, so. You're supposed to look into a turned off TV at midnight, exactly midnight, on a rainy night...And when you're staring, another person will appear on the screen.....And they say that persons' your soulmate!" Chie replied excitedly, trying to build up suspense with pauses in her words, which fell flat on Yosuke who denied such a thing could exist. "Oh come on, I thought you would say something useful." He sighed, "How can you get so excited over some stupid urban legend?" 

"Oh so you don't believe it? Mad 'cause you know Saki wouldn't, and can't appear?" Chie laughed, meaning the jab to come off lighter than it did.

"Shut up! It's obviously not real anyway. Magic stuff like that doesn't even exist, right, Seta-san?" Yosuke looked over to Seta-san, begging with his eyes to take his side.

"...Last night, I was able to stick my hand into the TV. Perhaps there's some truth to it?" He suggested, while drawing out the 'per' syllable for some reason. 

"Oh you've gotta be kidding me-"

"See! It's real. Show us, Seta-san!" Chie yelled, standing up and grabbing Seta-sans arm and dragging him to the electronic department, Yosuke rolling his eyes as he followed along. 

"There's way too many people here, Chie! There's no way they can try some stunt like that now. We can try it tomorrow, there's no sale on TV's then." Yosuke sighed, wanting to go home already. 

"I think it is suppose to rain tonight. We can try what Chie said, about the soulmate. Then I can try to stick my arm in the TV again tomorrow after school. Deal?" Seta-san said, trying to appease both of them. "Deal!" both said.

"Now... About those two murders. Think they could be connected? Haha...." Yosuke brought up, "What is the culprit was lurking around.... Ready to strike at any time! Heehee.....Maybe they'd take you, Chie! Haha, nevermind. You're too loud." 

"Jeez, you shouldn't joke about stuff like that! And what's that about me being too loud?!" She yelled, her voice becoming nearly a squeak near the end as the sentence cut off in a screech. "Sheesh you're childish." She paused for a moment to sigh, then continued, "Anyways. Try it out tonight. Cya tomorrow." And with that, Chie and Seta-san got up and left, and Yosuke returned home. 

"Welcome home, Yosuke." His mother greeted when he walked in the door. He attempted to walk up to his room relatively uninterrupted, but she had other plans. "For two weeks you'll be on your own. Your father and I are taking a trip." 

"A trip? What for." _Honestly, this might be the best news I've gotten my whole time here. To have the house to myself. Then I could..._

"We got an offer to possibly set up a Junes in some European countries, so we're going to go visit those locations. We'll make sure to bring you back some souvenirs, speaking of, your father is waiting for me at the airport, so I'll see you in two weeks, take care of the house! If it's dirty when we come back you're grounded!" And with that, she left. And Yosuke had the house to himself. He immediately went to check the fridge and freezer to see if she'd prepared any meals for him in the meantime. _Nope. Great, I have to cook for myself. Well, not like studying would help me anyways._ He quickly rummaged through the fridge and pantry to try and find something to eat, eventually deciding to just be lazy and have instant noodles. He ate them while doing some homework, then headed up to his room to rest. 

Then midnight came. He quickly switched off the TV, and began to focus on it. _No way... It's turning on? Is something gonna appear- SAKI-SENPAI?! B-but how.._ Unfortunately, he was too tired to think about it more, and as he fell asleep he decided that he of course needed to talk about this with the others.

After school that day, he decided to talk to Seta-san about it first. He didn't feel like getting ridiculed by Chie for who he saw, and for some reason he felt like Seta-san was trustworthy. Which was an odd feeling to get in a town full only of people who outright hate him or just kind-of tolerate him. He decided not to entertain it any further, though. He went up to their desk once school ended and Chie left to go find Yukiko, probably. "Hey... Seta-san, last night on the TV...I- I saw..." He tried to swallow, the anxiety swelling up and closing his throat for him. Seta-san looked like they were about to ask if he was okay, but then Chie came in. "Hey, Yosuke. Did you hear the rumor? Apparently Saki-senpai found that body the other day. You think that might be why she... You know.." Chie looked down for a moment, sighed, however not negatively, and looked up again to look Yosuke in the eye. "Hey. I'm sorry for that joke I said yesterday. I should've known it would still be a sore subject." She shook her head, then regained her usual energetic posture, shifting side to side as she prepared to ask her next question, "Anyway! Didya see.... it? Last night?" 

"Yeah... Did you?" Yosuke replied, and Seta-san nodded. "Yeah, and I saw a girl...My soulmates a girl? Eh, I won't complain. The girls here are better than the guys for sure. You're proof of that, Yosuke." She laughed. 

"Dude... Didn't you just apol- Okay, okay, whatever. Anyways, I know I saw.." His voice trailed off, not able to mention her. Chie continued anyway, not noticing nor caring that Yosuke stopped. "So, her hair was brown, shoulder length, in our school uniform, and-" Yosuke cut her off, "Okay. We both saw Sa-Saki-senpai. Seta-san, how 'bout you?" 

Seta-san seemed caught off guard, even though it seemed he was staring right at Yosuke as he talked. "Huh? Yeah... Maybe we all saw that Konishi girl. It sounds like who I saw too. Also..." Seta-san explained what happened to them last night, which consisted of them putting their hand in the TV again and nearly getting pulled in this time. _That sounds dangerous... Should we really still go to Junes and try going into one of the big TV's at this point...?_

"Well now we have to go to Junes and try it! Let's go!!" Chie jumped out of her seat and started to make a run for it, only to get yelled at by a teacher passing by about running in the hallways. She huffed and continued to walk out, Yosuke and Seta-san following. Yosuke found himself in thought as they walked to Junes. _It seems like Chie has gotten a lot more hostile to me lately. I mean, I don't think I ever really considered us friends, but she never used to insult me like this. And what's with the transfer student? They seem way too easy going and used to the city already. Not to mention their weird thing with cats. Walking to school today I remember seeing them feeding a stray._ At that thought, his stomach rumbled. _"_ Hanamura-kun? Are you hungry?" 

"Don't worry about it, I'll be fine!" But at that, Souji reached into their bag and pulled out a bento and handed it to Yosuke. "I made too much, you can have this since you're hungry." _What the hell, he made bento himself? That's..._ "Ew, you made bento yourself? What are you-" Chie and Seta-san both quickly turned their heads to look at Yosuke, Seta-sans face actually showing a lot of expression this time, and it seemed hurt and shocked. He quickly shut his mouth, realizing what he was about to say. _What the fuck, dude?! I thought we were past this shit already. Apparently finally accepting 'that' wasn't enough to quit with... Whatever this is._ But as he looked up, Seta-san was no where to be seen and Chie was glaring at him, and when he met her gaze she gave him a swift kick to the place where the sun don't shine. "Y-yeah, alright, I deserved that, but, ow! Did you have to kick me so roughly? What a critical hit to the nads..." 

"It's because what you said, freak! Jeez, I tolerated you long enough but then you say that? You promised you would stop saying stuff like that! You're on your own for this." And she walked off, leaving Yosuke alone, again. Which means his thoughts had free reign to make his life even more of a living hell. ' _You're seriously so pathetic'_ That voice chimed in a again. _'You're the same kind of mistake as transfer kid' The hell? Same kind of freak? Yeah, no way. One thing is enough. I definitely only like gi- W-w-wait a minute, how the hell does this stupid voice know that about Seta-san?! God I'm losing it. I need some fresh air._ With that, he put his headphones over his ears, and started to blast his music as he walked down to the Samegawa flood plain. Only to meet the person who he kinda did need to talk to now. Pulling down his headphones and turning off his music, he quietly walked over to Seta-san, who was, again, surrounded by stray cats. 

"Hey. Seta-san, can we talk? I want to apologize." Seta-san turned his head. _Are their eyes red? Oh.. Oh no._ "Uhm. I-if you have more to say related your last statement to me, I would rather not." Seta-sans voice shook, he really had been crying. 

"Hey, I'm really sorry about what I said okay? I didn't really mean it, I'm just. Uh. Well." _This stupid binder makes all my anxiety so much worse, I can't breathe in this damn thing like this._ "Okay." He took a deep breath. "I'm struggling with a lot of my own issues, okay? I really didn't mean what I said, really. This is a horrible apology I know and I'm sorry for being such a failure, but that's kinda what I'm just set up to be here in Inaba. Okay, sorry, I'm rambling, I apologized, I'll go and let you have your space, yeah? Alright cool, cya." He turned around and was about to walk away, when someone grabbed his wrist. "Wait. Talk to me and explain that a bit more?" Seta-san had a desperate look in their eyes, and Yosuke felt himself weak to it, for some reason he couldn't explain. "Alright, I'll stay. Can you let go of my arm?" 

"Oh, my bad. Sorry." Seta-san was looking at the ground, some sort of sad slash embarrassed look on their face. Just a few minutes here and Yosuke has seen more emotion on their face than the couple days he's seen them around school. "It's alright. What did you want me to explain more exactly?" Yosuke nerves have showed up again, suddenly striking him all over like pins in a poor, poor pin cushion. He could almost physically feel the pin pricks, and he almost wanted to lay down and hope he's actually dead, and some cloud with a soft, velvety texture would catch his fall. But, he's not dead. But he may as well be, that's what ninety-nine percent of Inaba wanted him to be, anyway. But let's get back to the present, yeah? Seta-san is staring at a Yosuke who seems to be staring into space, but he eventually manages to come back to the present and share the stare with Seta-san. 

"Welcome back to Earth, Hanamura-kun. Please explain to me what you meant by you're struggling with your own issues? And why do you insult yourself so easily?" Seta-san said with such a docile voice it almost didn't seem it could come from someone of their height and masculine frame. 

"Oh.. Uh. You know, stuff like. Uh. Myidentityandthatstuffyknow." He slurred together towards the end, but Seta-san heard it anyway. "Are you perhaps..." A gesture, as well as stringing out the 'per' syllable again. "I'm not gay." He rebutted with a speed that could probably break some sort of world record. "No I meant... Like, trans?" 

"Yeah... How'd you know?!" He took a few steps backward, not sure what would come next, he's been beaten for this before and if it's going to happen again, he won't let it, he's letting himself have that lead on them and _Shit, It's hard to breathe again._

"Calm down! It's okay, really. I am too, actually... Well. Sort of." Seta-sans voice being raised nearly scared Yosuke, scratch that, it did. Transfer kid keeps throwing surprise after surprise and Yosuke cant keep up with it, _but in some ways, its exciting. I kinda like it._

"Sort of?" 

"Yeah have you.. Ever heard of being genderfluid?"

"Yeah, I have actually. You know, there's that idol that's from here, Risette, I think she's genderfluid. I remember her saying it in an interview once." 

Seta-san tilted his face, almost cat like. Actually, very cat like. _This transfer kid acts like a cat and attracts them too, what gives._ "Okay, good, so you know what I am and I don't have to explain it. That's a relief. And you're a trans guy?" 

"Yeah, pretty much. It sucks. Man wish I could just be some ever changing gender, having to wear this binder everyday? Feels like its suckin' the life outta me, yknow?"

"Like a vacuum cleaner..." Yosuke laughed at that, "Yeah, that's one way to put it I guess."

Seta-san smiled, "You know what? I forgive you. I understand what it's like to have issues like those. I struggle with it sometimes myself. Also, I'm surprised such a small town like this has so many people like me. A-and you too, I suppose." 

"Yeah, you're right. That's odd. Doesn't keep 'em from hatin' one of their own, though." 

"Does this town really hate you? Is that why you're so down on yourself?" _Back at it with that cat-like head tilt, huh._ "Yeah. They aren't a big fan of Junes. It's not too bad for the most part, except a few people." _And then there's the people who are way too nice to someone like me, shining example A right here in front of me. There's no way they could've actually forgave me that quickly and easily. They've gotta have something planned._

"Hey, sorry to change subject but, what happened to Chie?" Seta-san looked up. "Oh, she's done with me because of that little outburst. Again, sorry about that." 

"It's okay, and if you'd like to accept the offer this time, I'd still be glad to give you that bento." Yosuke's stomach let out quite a particular grumble at that. "Yes please!" He responded, sticking out his hands, graciously accepting the bento Seta-san gave him. "Thank you so much, Seta-san." Yosuke said, unwrapping it. "You don't have to call me Seta-san anymore, you can just call me Souji." Seta-san, no, Souji smiled warmly at Yosuke, and he felt some sort of warm tingly feeling course through him at that moment but he ignored it, not wanting to think about it, and continued opening the bento. "All right, in that case you can call me Yosuke- and woah, did you shape _everything_ to be like a cat?" _That is really cu- shut up!_ "Yeah, I did. Is that an issue?" Another head tilt, and Yosuke feels weird about the fact he keeps noticing it and mentally commenting on it. 

"Not really but... How did you have the time to do this." He said, shoving a cat-shaped riceball into his mouth.

"Practice, after awhile I can do them quickly." Souji nodded, approving of themself. "So, after this would you still like to look into the TV thing?" 

"Yeah, sure. Let's go." And to Junes they went, after Yosuke quickly swallowed down three more cat-shaped food objects, to Souji's worry. The trip to Junes was fairly quiet, Yosuke more in thought about what he actually admitted to Souji, and the fact that theyre the same way, 'and you're an idiot to think anyone would actually consider themselves similar to you. Seta-san is actually respectable, you're not.' That voice was back, but he shook it off. If Souji could actually go in the TV, then he needed to focus on what that could entail. Soon enough, they made it to Junes and to the electronics area. Souji quickly looked around, made sure no customers were around, then tentatively put his hand up to the largest TV on display, and to Yosuke's shock, it went right in. Souji hummed, before climbing further into the TV. "Dude w-what are you doing?! Get out of there!" Yosuke went to pull Souji out, but ended up startling them in which caused them to fully fall into the TV. _Shit, I can't just leave them in....there alone._ He sighed and climbed into the tv as well, somewhat surprised that he could. They both fell through the air, landing in some strange stage looking place. Something broke Yosuke's fall though- _oh_ , that thing was Souji. Yosuke quickly got up, rubbing his back and extending his other hand to help Souji up. "Sorry about that, Souji. Are you 'lright?'" 

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thank you. Now.." Souji turned to look around at where they ended up. _God I'm such an idiot I should've tried to move out of the way, I had plenty of time to try and move since I went in after them but no I was too stupid and caught off guard and now if they didn't hate me before they definitely do now there's no way they're not upset at me and-_

"Hey, Yosuke. You're spacing out, did you hit your head? Are you okay? Should we hurry and try to find a way back out?" Souji stopped what they were doing, noticing that Yosuke had just stood there, a troubled look on his face. Because of course he noticed. Of course some person with a penchant for taking care of cats would be attentive to their surroundings. "Yeah! I'm fine. Let's look around a bit. I wonder what the hell kinda stuff could be in some 'TV world'. Let's go this way." He started off in some direction, not really caring when his thoughts were still coming for him. _I'm such a selfish piece of shit, I can't stop getting stuck in my mind and making them worry about me._ He forced himself to stop thinking for one moment to look at where he was going, wait a minute, actually. "It's foggy as hell in here! What the?!" He tried squinting his eyes to see better to no avail. "Souji? Where are you? Stay close to me, it's way too foggy in here and hard to see." 

"Got it. What are we trying to find?" Souji really took being close seriously, huh. They were practically touching shoulders, Yosuke found it a bit weird, but eh, Souji kinda already established themself as an odd person with quirks. He could deal with it. "I'm not sure... But this place seems big, there's probably something somewhere." Souji nodded in agreement, and they continued their walk in silence. 

They came to a stop in some hallway, "What is this place? Seems different from where we were before. Not like I can tell, this fog is so damn thick I can hardly see." Yosuke grumbled, tapping his foot.

"I think there might be something ahead. Let's go." Souji said, not waiting for Yosuke to reply and going on ahead.

"Hey, wait up! I said stay close, this fog is too thick for you to go running off like that!" Yosuke panted, catching up with Souji, even if they didn't go far, Yosuke was still in some pain from falling through the TV, so it was hard for him to walk, much more run. The two found themselves in a bedroom of sorts. "Is it just me, or is the fog lighter here?" Yosuke pulled out his phone, trying to see if he could call anyone from in here. "No service, what a surprise..." He said, with an edge of annoyance to his voice, but not too much since he expected it. Why the hell would some unrealistic TV world have reception in it? Or maybe it does make sense, considering TVs need it to- _Okay, off topic. That doesn't matter right now._ "Man, this place gets creepier and creepier the more we go." Some pang shot through his midsection, "Shit, man, I really gotta go..." He looked around. "Man, there probably isn't any bathrooms here... Or a bush." He sighed, hoping he could hold it for awhile. "Anyways.... I wonder what's up with this room. Looks like someone's bedroom, but there's all these weird posters on the walls with the faces cut out. And why do I feel like I've seen that person before? Weird..." Souji brought Yosuke's attention away from the posters, by staring at the scene in the middle of the room. Yosuke noticed and turned to look at it, arms crossed and face with a look that they couldn't quite place. "Dude... This chair and rope... That kind of arrangement is never good..." _And I know quite personally what it means..._

Yosuke was sat on his bed, contemplating. _I think I'll die alone, yeah, I'll die alone. All of Inaba hates me or just barely tolerates me, is there any point to me staying here? Yeah, Id love to die._ He got up, moving the chair at his desk to the middle of his room, then reaching in his closet for a rope, and something to attach it to the ceiling. _I think I'd love to die._ His body is on some sort of fucked up autopilot, slowly attaching the rope to the ceiling in the shape he knows all too well. _Third time's the charm, right? I'd love to die._ He begins to place his head in the rope. _This is it,_ he thinks, _I'm going to die alone, I think I'd like to die alone, yeah, I'd love to die alone._ As soon as he fits his head in, and is ready to kick the chair out form under him, he hears footsteps in the hall. _Huh? But it's late, no one should be awake at this hour... Maybe mom or dad is just going to the bathroom, yeah, I'll be fine. I can do this. I can't imagine how happy they'll be to see me like this in the morning, intending to come yell at me for not being awake for school, but stepping upon my corpse. My lowly, disgusting corpse._ The footsteps sounded closer, before slamming open the door. "I heard a noise what are you- Oh god, Yosuke?! What are you doing!" Yosuke's mother yelled, quietly though, to not wake up her husband, as she ran into the room, dragging Yosuke out of his homemade noose and-

"Yosuke? Yosuke?! Are you okay?" Souji's voice, accompanied by them shaking Yosuke startled him and dragged him out of his flashback, and then Yosuke realized he was crying, body shaking with loud, ugly sobs. "I.. I don't think so." Souji took Yosuke into their arms, "It's okay. I took the thing down when I noticed you seemed to be upset by it, so it's not there anymore, see?" Souji moved out of the way enough for Yosuke to look up over their shoulder and see they did in fact take down the noose, hid it somewhere, and moved the chair away. "I...See. Thank you." Yosuke's body stiffened though, when he realized the position they were in. He quickly squirmed out of it and took a few steps back, leaving Souji with open arms and a confused and somewhat hurt look on their face. "Did I do something wrong?" They looked like a wounded kitten like this, and some part in the far corner of his mind, where that stupid voice liked to chime in from every once in awhile, told him he enjoyed the hug, actually, and wished he didn't pull away, but he ignored that, rationalizing it away as just not being used to physical affection like that. 

"Well, hugs are for girls, duh." He reasoned, looking away. "Oh, I see." Souji would've objected to that if they had not just seen Yosuke have some sort of panic attack, something like that. They decided to ignore it for now, and maybe bring it up later. "Well, we should probably try to find a way out now." They said as they began to walk out of the room, only to be stopped by Yosuke's voice, joining their side. "Actually... I don't want to go home right now. Let's keep exploring." And with that, he led the way out, starting in a new direction. _I don't want to go back home and see my room after that. Why'd I have to remember that, anyway? And why would it affect me so much, it's not like I managed to do anything, anyway. I'm still here, useless and a drag like usual. Ugh._ His thoughts caused a resolve in his steps, almost stomping along. Wherever he was going, he didn't know, and he wasn't sure if he cared. He just wants to find out what's up with this place, maybe it'll give him a purpose. Who knows? They eventually made their way back to the place they landed, and decided to take a quick break from walking there, Yosuke standing, arms crossed, contemplating something. _I really do wonder what this world is here for, and what it contains... It could be dangerous here, if we come back we should bring weapons..._

"Alright, well ready to go on ahead, Souji?" He asked, putting his arms back down to his side. "Yeah, let's go this way. I feel like I can make out something in the distance." Souji turned their head towards the direction they meant, and Yosuke nodded. "Let's go, then." After a short while of walking, they came across something that looked like the shopping district in their own town. "What is this place? It looks just like the shopping district...What's going on here?!" Yosuke's stance stiffened, almost as if he were on alert. "Saki-senpai's store...!" Yosuke took off, running in the direction of where the Konishi's liquor store would be. 

"It's here! The liquor store Saki-snepai's parents run...But why would it be here?" Yosuke took a careful step forward, intending to go into the store, but some monster looking things started coming out of the doorway. "The hell?!" Both Souji and Yosuke's postures stiffened in fear. As the creatures came closer, Souji gripped their head in their hand, seeming to be straining, while Yosuke stood in fear of the creatures, who had now turned into some circular shape with mouths. Yosuke glanced over to Souji, seeing some light coming from something they were holding in their hand. Soon enough, Souji had shouted 'Persona!' and crushed a card that somehow got in their hand, a surge of power flowed through the area, and some new creature spawned behind them, floating in the air. Souji had taken this- persona? of sorts, and began to fight those creatures with it, and Yosuke overheard them call the things 'shadows'. _What the hell is going on here? Some magic TV world, and now this transfer kid has special powers?! This has got to be related... Or some hell of a weird dream. Hey, maybe I'm dead, and this is hell! Would explain all this weird shit happening..._

When Yosuke came back from his thoughts, Souji had landed a finishing blow on the shadow thing, and he was quick to run over to him, "Whoa... Wh-what was that?! And you said 'persona', and called those things 'shadows', what happened- well, more like, what did you _do_?!" Yosuke was slightly hopping up and down, almost like an excited puppy, "Oh man oh man, do you think I can do it too? Wait, I'm getting off track, come on, let's go into the shop, maybe Saki-senpai's there-" He was cut off from some strange voices beginning to echo.

"I wish Junes would just go under."

"It's all because of that damn store..."

"W-what the?" Yosuke began to question, only to be cut off by more voices.

"Ha, I heard that Konishi-san's daughter is working there."

"How could she be such a traitor like that, with her family's business suffering like this?"

"I've heard their sales have gone down. Because of Junes, of course."

"S-stop it..." Yosuke protested weakly, and to no one, really. 

"That poor father. Having to see his daughter be a traitor and work for another company. Especially one like Junes."

"What a troublesome child, am I right?" The last voice echoed. 

"Enough of this! We're going to find out the truth behind this, come on, Souji." Yosuke said, firm and determined, and he began to march into the store. However, when in the store those voices join in again, this time louder.

"Saki, how many times do I have to tell you?! You do know what the neighbors say about you, right?"

"Is... Is this Saki-senpai's dad...?" Yosuke said, quietly. 

"Aren't you ashamed of yourself? You're the daughter of a family who's owned this store for generations! And you're working for them?! Is it for the money? Did you meet someone? Just tell me, I'm begging you, of why you had to work _there_ of all places!" Konishi's fathers' voice pleaded.

"I-I can't believe this...." Yosuke said, eyes tearing up a bit. "She seemed like she liked working at Junes, she never said anything about this to me..." Yosuke's voice steadily raised in pitch, "Is this how Saki-senpai felt about things?! How else am I supposed to interpret this?!" Yosuke's eyes caught sight of a table, with familiar looking paper on it. "This paper...Hey... Is this...?" Yosuke picked up said paper, "It's...Part of a love note I gave her... Why's it torn up like this...?" In the scrap of paper Yosuke was holding, a sentence could be read before cutting off again. 'Working with you here at Junes has been the best of my time spent here in Inaba.' Noises could be heard, faintly. The tearing sound of paper. The paper... being the love note. _It's the tearing sound of love notes._ Yosuke fell to his knees, a silent tear running down his face, he didn't have time to cry, not yet. Konishi's voice echoed from the same place as the others, "I... Never got the chance to say it. I always wanted to tell Hana-chan..."

"Huh? She's-she's talking about me?" Yosuke's words were swallowed up with angry tears, forcing themselves out of his eyes and down his face, only to drop onto that piece of paper he was still holding, ruining it further. "....That I seriously hated him. A real annoying pain in the ass." A sound of a sob, and then a sigh. "I was only nice to him since he was the managers son, that's it. I just wanted to be able to get out of shifts easily, really. But of course the absolute dumbass take's it the wrong way, starting to think I'm into him. What a dipshit." Her voice scoffed.

"Annoying...? Pain in the ass...? Dipshit...? Hated...?" Yosuke's face scrunched in pain, tears freely flowing down it now. 

"Who cares about Junes anyway? Because of that store, the family business is ruined, my parents hate me, and the neighbors talk behind my back. I wish everything could disappear....I wish I could disappear..." Yosuke gasped, "T-that's a lie, it can't be...Saki-senpai isn't-" Yosuke has had a penchant for being interrupted today, huh? A new voice joins in, one that sounds so much like Yosuke, except it's distorted. 

"It's-" a fake sniffling noise, "So sad! I feel so sorry for myself... boo hoo..." Souji and Yosuke turned to the direction of the voice, to find one of these voices finally had a body(?) to go with it. One that looked like Yosuke in every way, with a slight difference as with the voice, in that he had glowing yellow eyes. Yosuke almost made a comment, but the doppelganger continued. "Actually, I'm the one who think's everything's a pain in the ass! Hahahaha..." The thing laughed, mostly to itself. Meaning it was probably laughing at Yosuke. Yosuke ran over to the figure, keeping a 'safe' distance away, "Wh-Who are you?! I wouldn't think that!" 

"Hahahaha... Yeah, right. How long are you going to keep being delusional? Fuck the shopping district, and fuck Junes too! You're sick of everyone here, especially yourself! You hate living in the sticks!" The figure snapped.

"What're you saying?! That's not true, I-"

"You put on a good show of being carefree and happy-go-lucky 'cause you're so terrified of being alone after being abandoned over and over again, huh? And the more the merrier right? The more people you're surrounded with- regardless of the fact they hate your guts, you need them to block out the pain of isolation." The figure took a moment to laugh menacingly, "And what's this about Saki-senpai every five seconds? Hah, I know why you were actually so eager to come here and stay around.."

"Stop it!" 

"Hahaha! Why so panicked? Thought I was just spouting bullshit? Or maybe, you actually think and feel everything I've been saying! And why's that? Because I am you! Your shadow- the part of you that's truer than anything you say yourself. Because I don't repress the same negative feelings you do! You were so eager to stay here because face it, you liked the company of this new transfer student. 'Oh they seem so nice and trustworthy', Hmm? Oh, and, they're so cute, right? Riiiight?" The shadow, as he called himself, belted out a laugh, strong enough to probably hurt it's stomach or throat, if it had one. Or maybe it does. Who knows what's up with these shadow things. "Because I mean, what else is there to do in this shithole? A world inside a TV? Ha, no way, right! That's so exciting! And because Chie left your sorry ass, you could spend sooo much time with your new favorite person! So you really didn't have any other reason for coming here, did you?!"

"That's not true...Stop...Stop it..." Yosuke said, defeated, he really had no rebuttal. The shadow was right, after all. Maybe he was eager to spend time with someone who didn't seem to outright hate him at first sight, and maybe he is sick and tired of being abandoned, and wanted to hurry and get in a good impression on Souji before the others could change it (for what good that impression did, with what a fuckup he is). 

"You're just trying to act like some sort of big shot, acting all fearless and eager. Hahaha. Well, maybe if this all goes well you could be a hero! But maybe that's already stolen from you, since your dear Souji managed to gain her power first." Souji gasped, "Oops, my bad, haha, did I say her instead of their? Yeah... She's the same kind of freak as you, wanting to go masquerading around as some gender she wasn't assigned to at birth, hell, this freak wants to go around as all of them! Even more messed up than you yourself, huh? Maybe that's why you two are getting along so well." 

"That's not true! Souji isn't a freak! And don't bring them into this! Ugh, what are you?! Who are you?!" Yosuke snapped back, he was barely taking this all in as it was, but then he had to drag in Souji and he lost any composure he had left. The shadow laughed, "I already told ya. I'm you, your shadow... And there's nothing I don't know about you!"

"Screw that! I don't know you! You can't be me, you piece of shit!" Yosuke yelled, and the shadow only began to laugh manically again, "Yeah, that's right! Say it again!" The shadows pupils shrunk with that statement, as he began to gain power, unnoticed by Yosuke and Souji.

"You're not me! You're nothing like me!"

"Yeah, that's right." A blue aura began emitting from the shadows' shadow, "I'm me now! I'm not you anymore, see?" And with that, he began to transform. No longer a humanlike figure, he was some monster with resemblance to a frog. 

"I am a shadow.... The true self...And I'll crush everything that bores me...Starting with you!" It said, launching an attack at Yosuke, only for Souji to cut in, who had summoned their persona while the shadow was distracted. The attack still landed, though, and Souji fell to the ground. He began laughing manically again, "How long can you survive this, I wonder?" Souji was prepared this time, though, and dodged the next attack, and firmly planting two of their own before being knocked back. The fight went back and forth for a while, with Souji getting visibly roughed up by the fight with the attacks Yosuke's shadow landed on them.

 _I can't let them keep fighting that thing on their own... Come on, how do I do the same thing?!_ He began trying to mutter persona and clench his fist, the same way Souji had before they entered, but to no avail. He was useless, yet again. All he could do was stand and watch as Souji took blow after blow, but not without landing their own. At least the shadow looked to be in a shape worse than Souji by a long shot, at least Souji was winning this. _They're... So strong. I wish I could be like that, but at least it's nice to see someone so willing to protect me... Even though this is all my fault, isn't it? He said he was me... And there was some truth to what he said... Screw that, a lot of truth, actually. But it's not like I've though those horrible things without rationalizing them and making sure they weren't my only thoughts about things._ Yosuke continued to think to himself, before hearing Souji gasp as the shadow landed a nasty hit on them. "What a fuckin' pain in the ass! Just like Yosuke!" Souji was tossed aside, out of breath and hurt. Yosuke realized he'd have to attempt to fight, he grabbed what looked like a suitable weapon from the store, a bat, and ran to his shadow, ready to swing. His bat connected to the shadow, and it seemed to have been the final hit it needed to disappear, Souji having given it their all before getting knocked out. 

"Souji?! Are you okay?!" Yosuke ran to his side, putting a hand on his back and putting their arm over his shoulder, helping them up. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just a bit sore." Souji said softly, panting slightly. "That's okay, you can lean on me." Yosuke smiled weakly at Souji. "Are you sure? You don't seem to like physical contact." Souji said, pain making its way up to show itself on their face, but neither could tell whether it was from only the physical injuries they'd just endured, or if they were still hurt from Yosuke rejecting their hug earlier. "I'm certain. That was an asshole move of me, I'm sorry. Hang onto me as tight as you need to keep your balance." Souji smiled and took up his offer immediately, pushing more of their weight onto Yosuke. 

Yosuke's shadow appeared again, back to his original form. Standing there silently but eerily. "It'll only go away once you accept it, it's okay. I won't fault you for what it said, everyone has unsavory thoughts like that, and you're still yourself regardless." Souji said softly, giving a small smile before wincing again as their stomach stung. "Damn... It hurts to accept and face yourself, but yeah.." He turned to the shadow, then back to Souji. "I knew it wasn't exactly lying, but... I was so ashamed, and I knew that wasn't the only things I thought, but I didn't want to admit it. Especially... the part where it called you 'her'. I guess I still have some more internalized issues to deal with, but I don't think any less of you for being genderfluid, I swear." Souji simply smiled in response, expression soft, then they nodded in the shadow's direction. 

"Ah, right." Yosuke fully faced his shadow, "You're me... And I'm you. When you get down to it, all of this here in front of us is me. I can't deny it anymore." His shadow smiled, then faded away. In his place, appeared a creature similar in a sense to the one that Souji had- a persona. "This... Is my persona. I faced myself, and in turn gained a persona... Like you!" Yosuke smiled, excited, then realized. "Wait... if I had to face myself to get my power... How come you gained yours without that?" Souji shrugged, "No clue, but I'm really exhausted, let's find a way out of here now." 

"I agree, let's go." They both made their way back to where they had first started, that odd stage looking thing, only now there was some creature standing there. "What's that?! Don't tell me-" Yosuke stopped as the creature turned to look at him, quickly hopping over. 

"Hey! Who are you guys? You've been running around in my world all day, defeating shadows I could never defeat despite my beary best efforts, but you did somehow?" The bear-like creature asked. "Well, first of all, your world? What is this place?!" 

"Cute..." Souji mumbled, stumbling towards the bear-like thing, reaching out to pet it. It began to tremble in fear. "It's okay," Souji said, kneeling down to be at level with it, "I won't hurt you. Tell us what this place is? And let me pet you?" The bear, assuming that's what it is, considering the pun it used a moment ago, regained its composure. "Okay, well... I'm Teddie! And this place doesn't exactly have a name... It is what it is. And it's where I live." 

"You live here?!" Yosuke exclaimed. "Yeah, but if I was you guys, I'd hurry back to your own world. You already took a beating to a shadow, and that isn't beary good, I can see you guys have good intentions, so I won't mind if you came back and gave this little bear some company." Teddie paused, before continuing on with a new thought. "You know, someone's been throwing people in here. Do you know about that? It's a beary, big pain in the paws to deal with!"

"Huh? Someone's been throwing people in?" Yosuke said in shock.

"Yeah... Two people so far. I guess you don't know anything about that... That makes Teddie beary sad... I wanted answers...." Teddie sighed. "We'll figure it out, then. And then your home will be undisturbed again, right, Yosuke?" Souji said, to Yosuke's reluctant agreeance. "Good!" Teddie perked up, "But you two need to get out, now! I can sense more shadows coming and you're in bad shape!" 

"We'd love to get out, actually, but we don't know how to! Do you have any ideas?" Yosuke's voice raised a bit, being slightly annoyed by the bear. That caused Teddie to tremble and come hide behind Souji, who began to pet him to calm him. Once calmed, Teddie spoke. "Yeah, I'll let you out!" Teddie tapped his paw, and a set of stacked TV's appeared. "What the hell?"

"One way ticket back to your world! Now get in!" Teddie quickly pushed the two in, but not without Yosuke trying to complain, and they reappeared back at Junes. 

"Huh... Well, I'm glad we made it back in one piece, right partner?" Souji looked up at the use of the word 'partner' to refer to them. Yosuke noticed the confusion, and rubbed his neck, a bit of pink appearing on his face. "Oh... Well. You know, since we're gonna be solving that 'throwing people into a TV' mystery, we're like, partners, you know, like detective partners? And I don't know whether to call you girl or dude, so... Hahaha, forget about it, I won't say it again." Yosuke's voice was trembly, embarrassed about the blatant display of some sort of affection. 

"No.. I like it. Keep saying it, partner..." Souji repeated the word, Yosuke unsure of if they was repeating to word to confirm that they liked it, or if they were calling him that back. Either way, a goofy grin made its way onto his face. "Alright! Let's go, partner! It's late, and Junes is about to close. Let's meet up tomorrow at lunch, and talk more, alright?" Souji nodded, and Yosuke said one last 'Cya!' before they went their separate ways. 

And thus, unbeknownst to the two, they now had a long journey ahead of them in solving the case they've taken on via a bear. 


End file.
